The invention relates to an orthopedic incline for the early correction of malocclusions that have a bilateral stabilizing and retention contact with the upper buccal occlusal and incisor teeth. This contact simplifies the new fitting retention process and fixes correctly the angle of incline of the depending segments, called the orthopedic incline. This appliance is the subject of the inventor's prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,885,073 under the title of “Orthopedic Incline Appliance and Method”. This patent is incorporated into this new application by reference and fully describes the known appliance that is prefabricated for correcting some types of malocclusions. The following will be included in this application to gain a proper understanding of the improvements made in the appliance at hand:
The prior art appliance comprises:
a) a teeth engaging box for engaging the upper front teeth having a cavity into which the engaged teeth will fit;
b) a palatal stabilizing segment attached to the teeth engaging box and adapted to bilateral contact against the palatal tissue when the teeth engaging box engages the upper front teeth; and
c) a pair of forwardly positioned spaced apart and inclined remodeling segments extending from the front of the teeth engaging box downward and rearward at a predetermined angle.
The remodeling segment is hereinafter called the “orthopedic incline”. This type of an appliance is mostly recommended to guide the mid-face growth of jaws in young children when the mandibular (lower jaw) its muscle attachments and the bones of the child, especially, the mandible, are still immature and they can still be relocated the easiest. The upper incisors are situated in the teeth engaging box against the floor of this box and the orthopedic incline will rest against the lateral lower incisor. This will result in the mandible rotating forward and then up in a counter clockwise direction as it is guided by the steep inclines and the lateral incisal edges which may be contacted by the spaced apart front positioned faces of the orthopedic inclines. This is so because it can happen that often the two lower lateral incisors, may not be perfectly lined up whereby only one of the orthopedic inclines will make contact whereby the inner surface of the other orthopedic incline will have to be ground away or grooved to correct this misalignment. But not if there are hinged individual inclines.
As will be explained below, the improvement of the invention at hand will make the front positional orthopedic inclines movable by way of a hinge to conform to the patient's comfort of the facial muscles and joints.
Experimentation has shown that the above described appliance is also usable as an aid to improve the air space (oral pharynx) behind the base of the tongue of a person. However, it has been found that under certain circumstances, especially with adults, the orthopedic inclines of the invention may avoid confusing occlusal or altering the patient's bite as a side effect which is undesirable. Therefore, this will also be alleviated by hinging the orthopedic inclines. This will also be explained below.
Attention is directed to U.S. Pat. No. 5,779,470 issued to the inventor of the invention at hand. This appliance contains two thin upper arch (maxilla) lateral occlusal troughs under the biting surface of the upper jaw's posterior teeth which will be helpful to obtain lateral stability and retention of the appliance, while sleeping.